DEDUCED FROM ITS CHARACTER AS A CONSECRATED DAY

Exodus, XX. 8-11.

"8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

IN discoursing upon the Sabbath, if we were to take up the subject in its whole extent, various questions would come to be discussed, of which the discussion is not necessary to our present purpose. Of that purpose it is no part to establish a rejected doctrine, or a doctrine as yet unknown to those who are addressed, nor yet to refute erroneous views. It is conceived, on the contrary, that the existence of orthodox sentiments may be presupposed, and that it is not the creed but the practice of our hearers we are in this case concerned to rectify and raise; in the following discourse, therefore, I shall only endeavour to explain and enforce the duty of "remembering the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

I. It will very much assist us to form clear and just views of the nature of this duty, if we consider what is meant by consecration, or hallowing, when spoken of in the Scriptures as the act of God. It is because he consecrated or hallowed the Sabbath day, that we are commanded to keep it holy, that is to keep it agreeably to the character thus imparted to it.

The laws of nature, or, to speak more correctly, the will and appointment of the Author of nature, have established certain uses and applications of things which no inferior authority can abolish. Thus, the different kinds of grain common among us have been given as food for man and beast, this is the established use and application in this case; we are not, therefore, at liberty to dispose of them in any way by which this appointment would be set aside; as, for example, to take them for fuel, or cast them out and tread them under foot.

God himself, however, can annul his own appointment in regard to the manner in which his creatures are to be disposed of, and of his doing so Scripture history affords us numerous instances. In the command given to the children of Israel with respect to Jericho, they were required to destroy utterly - not to preserve and apply to their respective uses - the cattle and every description of property they found in the city, except only, "the silver and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron." In this, however, we have only one part of what constitutes consecration - a divine prohibition of the employment of things according to their common and natural uses; and, as the things in regard to which this prohibition was issued, were at the same time appointed to be destroyed, they were devoted, or pronounced accursed, and not consecrated. Things consecrated are not destroyed, but set apart for some holy or religious use; accordingly "the silver and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron," found in Jericho, were consecrated; the command in regard to them was, "they shall come into the treasury of the Lord." They were not to be used for the common purposes to which silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron are applicable; such a use of them was forbidden, and at the same time they were set apart for a holy or religious use. Here we see, that consecration, in the first place, includes a prohibition that the things consecrated, be applied according to their common and natural uses; and, in the second place, assigns to them a religious use, to which the application of them is wholly restricted. The nature of consecration, as we have now explained it, may be further illustrated by referring to the law of the Jewish economy in regard to the male firstlings of cattle:- "Every male firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, is mine," The portion of the increase thus consecrated ceased to be man's property, or lawfully applicable to man's purposes. The Lord resumed the property of it, and set it apart for his own service. Here, as in the former case, the common use is abolished and prohibited, and a sacred or religious use assigned.

Such being the nature and effect of consecration, we may easily ascertain the character of the Sabbath as a consecrated day. In the first place, it is withheld from man as the male firstlings of their cattle were from the Jews. It may no more be used in the common pursuits and occupations which are proper and appointed for other days, than such firstlings might be reared up by the Jews for themselves, and sold, or otherwise disposed of, for their own personal purposes. The prohibition implied in consecration takes effect in the ease of the Sabbath in the same way, and as fully, as in the case of the firstlings, and of the silver and gold of Jericho. This is expressly taught in the fourth commandment itself - "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work." In the second place, as the consecrated firstlings were to be used for the sacrifices of the Lord, and the silver and gold, and the vessels of brass and iron, saved from the destruction to which every thing else in Jericho was devoted, were to "come into his treasury," so also a sacred employment of the Sabbath has been appointed. We are to remember it to keep it holy - we are to observe it as a day, though not of secular, yet of religious occupation, a day set apart for the exercises and the advancement of piety. It appears, therefore, that in our duty with respect to the Sabbath these two things are included - that we regard, on the one hand, the prohibition, and on the other, the positive requirement implied in the consecration of it; in other words, that we do not use it as a common day, as if it were not consecrated, but that we devote it wholly to the precise purpose to which, by its consecration, it has been dedicated. Let us now, therefore, consider the duty in question somewhat particularly under these two heads of prohibition and requirement.

II.
1. Our first inquiry, accordingly, is what the law of the Sabbath forbids; and to this enquiry a general answer has already been furnished. It forbids the employment of the Sabbath as a common or unconsecrated day - the employment of it in those pursuits and avocations in which the other days of the week are to be occupied. By being consecrated or hallowed, it is separated from the other days, and what we are forbidden with respect to it is - to regard and employ it as if this separation had not at all been made, as if it were still a day on which, as on others, we are "to labour, and do all our work." The peculiar prohibition of the fourth commandment does not at all apply to things sinful in themselves; these are unlawful on every day, and it did not therefore require a distinct prohibition to render them unlawful on the Sabbath. The sole object, accordingly, of the prohibition in question, is to exclude from the employment of the Sabbath what forms the proper employment of the other days as the unconsecrated and common portion of our time. That this is the intention and extent of the prohibition is clearly conveyed in the commandment itself. "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work." The labour, and doing our own work, which form the commanded and appropriate occupation of the six days of the week, are what is here forbidden; these are to find no place in our occupation of the Sabbath. In it we are to do no work of this kind.

The point then, from which we are to start in keeping the Sabbath, is the point which we have gained when we labour and do all our work on the other six days, "being diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" and starting from this point, what we have to leave behind us is our secular avocations, with all thoughts and emotions connected with them. The Sabbath, by being consecrated, has been separated from the portion of our time which has been given us for these, and, accordingly, it has been expressly commanded in regard to it, "in it thou shalt not do any such work;" - we must, therefore, carefully exclude them from the occupation of it, if we would not be guilty of desecrating what the Lord has hallowed.

And obviously it will not satisfy this prohibition that we lay aside the principal duties of our secular avocations - those duties which are most deliberate and laborious, and form the main part of our week-day occupation. All duties of this class are forbidden, and as it is wholly as being of this class, that is, as duties of a secular nature, that they are forbidden, they are all forbidden equally. None of them is excepted. The language of the law is: "six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work" - that is, thou shalt employ six days in thy secular duties; thou shalt labour, if the duties of thy place and relations be laborious, and, whatever their nature may be, thou shalt perform them - thou shalt do all thy work: and then we are carried as it were on holy ground, - "but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," a consecrated day, "in it thou shalt not do any work." This prohibition it is obvious does not respect laborious duties alone, but all secular duties whatever - all the duties immediately before commanded as the distinctive employment of the rest of our time: for it is not said thou shalt not labour but "thou shalt not do any work" - thou shalt not occupy thyself, either more or less, in any thing of a secular nature. What we have to avoid is violating the character of the Sabbath as a consecrated day; and this its character will be violated if we admit anything secular into our occupation of it. The extent to which it will be violated will of course be greater or less according to the extent to which we admit what is secular; but it will be really violated, (and it is with the fact and not the degrees of violation we are at present concerned,) if we admit what is secular at all. The whole of the Sabbath is consecrated, no part of it is left common and therefore open to secular occupation; and, accordingly, if we give any part of it to such occupation, however small that part may be, we are guilty of desecrating it; we invade and violate the sacredness of its character. The part of it which we employ in what is secular, be it long or short, is consecrated time, and therefore by such an employment of it we are guilty of applying what is consecrated to a common use, that is, of doing with respect to it the very thing which its consecration forbids, and, consequently, of setting aside its consecration and treating it as a nullity.

It will, perhaps, be said, and whether or not it will be said, this we know is the impression on the minds of many, an impression, too, on which they often act, - If the portion of the Sabbath which we employ in the manner condemned is but very short, and if our employment of it in that manner is a mere cursory and incidental thing, which did not at all originate in any set purpose or deliberate arrangement, it must be a matter of little importance though it be slightly different from that employment of it which is "according to the commandment." Now, this is exactly to say, in other and less explicit terms, - "it must be a matter of little importance though our conduct in this care be slightly sinful;" - a statement, surely, on which no professing Christian would venture, though, alas! it is often implied in the practice of professing Christians. Let us ever bear in mind, that, in seeking to determine whether or not we may safely follow a proposed course, our inquiry must be whether it is sinful, and not whether it is very sinful. The avoiding of sin, and not the avoiding of much sin, is the point to which our vigilance must be directed. "Let not any iniquity have the dominion over me," is the prayerful desire of every Christian heart. Sin is a leprosy, and if it is first permitted to the extent of a small spot it will soon extend and diffuse its loathsomeness over the whole soul. No rule, therefore, can be more wholesome than this, and it is peculiarly necessary in the case of the Sabbath - watch against the first entrances and the small beginnings of sin. Suppose Achan had adopted the reasoning to which we have just adverted as applied to the Sabbath - and it is not at all improbable that such thoughts did arise in his mind - suppose he had said within himself, "It is true that all the gold and silver of Jericho, and all the vessels of brass and iron found in it have been consecrated, and that every other description of property which it contains has been pronounced accursed; but still these few shekels of silver and this wedge of gold are so very small a portion of the former, and this Babylonish garment, goodly as it is, so very small a portion of the latter, that, though I take them, the whole amount of the consecrated property on the one hand, and of the accursed property on the other, can scarcely be said to be diminished, and therefore my taking them, even if it becomes known, will be overlooked as a matter of no importance, and certainly cannot be severely censured." Would this reasoning be correct, and might the expectation founded on it be warrantably entertained? To both inquiries the event returns a most emphatic answer. But is not the reasoning precisely the same which leads us to conclude that, as the portion of the Sabbath on which we allow the secular matters to intrude is so very small, it cannot be regarded as of any serious importance though the manner in which we employ that portion of it is not exactly what it ought to be? Think of a rich Jew proceeding to take one of the male firstlings of his flock, and justifying the act on this ground - that the male firstlings were so numerous that one out of their number was as nothing. Could the justification be sustained? His conduct would admit of no justification, and yet it is precisely the same in principle with the conduct of him who employs any part of the Sabbath in doing his own work - and so also is the offence of Achan. In fact, the three offences are identical - taking for a common and private use a portion of consecrated gold, a portion of consecrated time, or one of the consecrated firstlings. In each case there is the same ingredient of setting aside the divine appointment, and acting in direct contravention of it. What God has consecrated is treated as common and unconsecrated.

To give a more definite character to our views of the prohibition which the fourth commandment conveys, it is proper to observe that our actions may be distributed into four classes:- 1. Those which are immediately necessary to the supply of our natural wants, as, for example, eating and drinking. 2. Those which are more remotely necessary to the supply of our natural wants, as cooking and taking exercise. 3. Those which have a secular object, as ploughing and sowing on the part of a farmer, working at his trade on the part of a mechanic, buying and selling and corresponding and conversing on business on the part of a merchant; and, 4. Religious actions. Now it is to the second and third of these classes that the prohibition of the fourth commandment applies. Such actions as are immediately necessary to the supply of our natural wants are not forbidden, though, doubtless as they ought always to be regulated by the laws of moderation, it is peculiarly our duty to regulate them on the Sabbath by these laws. The second class of actions, those which are more remotely necessary to the supply of our natural wants, are unquestionably forbidden, so far as they may be dispensed with; they are common and not sacred or religious actions, and ought not, therefore, to occupy consecrated time any further than is absolutely necessary. The law was thus understood by the Jews, and the uniform practice of the pious declares that it is thus understood by them. As regards cooking, which we formerly mentioned as belonging to this class of actions, and to which we now refer only for the purpose of illustration, it cannot we think be doubted, that instead of faring more sumptuously on the Sabbath than on other days, and thus rendering necessary a greater amount of the labour of cooking, we ought rather, as much as we can, to choose such food as may be dressed with least labour, and at the least expense of time. Actions which have a secular object, which form the third class in the distribution which we have proposed, are wholly forbidden - "Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work." No part of the Sabbath is to be occupied in "thought, words, or works, about our worldly employments." These are the very actions which are most opposed to its character as a consecrated day. Many we believe perform actions of this class without ever adverting to their character as actions of a secular nature, without indeed adverting to their character at all, and, therefore, without feeling that by performing them they desecrate the Sabbath. Now we ought to correct this inadvertency. It does not become us to be heedless and off our guard, to act without reflection and care, where the divine law is concerned. Let us mark the character of every action, let us refer each to its proper class, and then admit particular actions into our occupation of the Sabbath or exclude them from it, as the class to which they belong is to be admitted or excluded. For example, you receive a letter, which you know from the writing is from one of your commercial correspondents, and the question is, whether this letter may be read on the Sabbath. To obtain an answer to this question, let it be first ascertained to what class of actions the reading of such a letter belongs. Is it not obviously one of those actions which have a secular object? Does it not belong to your secular occupation or calling? It unquestionably does; and, therefore, as the whole of this class of actions is forbidden by the law of the Sabbath, so of course is each individual action of the class, and the action in question among the rest. As we feel the class ought to be dealt with, let us deal with the individuals which it comprehends; and unless we are prepared to pursue our secular avocations on the Sabbath in their full extent, let us lay them wholly aside, and obey the commandment, "in it thou shalt not do any work." Some we are aware will object, that, however correct this may be in principle, it would be extremely inconvenient and often attended with much loss if adopted in practice. To this objection it would be sufficient to reply, in the language of Scripture, "he that walketh uprightly walketh surely;" the path of duty is always the path of safety; we most effectually consult all our true interests by walking in that path, for godliness - and the due observance of the Sabbath is an important part of practical godliness - "is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." But the view of facts upon which the objection proceeds must surely be mistaken. The course which we have urged has been adopted and is now pursued by many, without experiencing the disadvantages with which, according to the objection, it must be attended. It cannot, we conceive, be for a moment supposed that the providence of God is so conducted that it renders it impossible to obey the law of God, or that his government of the natural world opposes and counteracts his government of the moral world. While, therefore, difficulties will be met with in the path of duty, they will be such difficulties, as will indeed try our faith and devotedness, for this is the intention of them, but, if we possess faith and devotedness, will not stop nor eventually even retard our progress. But though we should suffer temporal disadvantages in consequence of our obedience to the law of God, ought we to shrink from bearing them? Are not the blessings of the next life incomparably more valuable than those of the present, and ought we, therefore, to consider it a very grievous thing if we are required to some small extent, or indeed to any extent, to forfeit the latter for the sake of the former? "If any man will come after me," says the Saviour, that is, into heaven, "let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." If, therefore, we find that we cannot follow the Saviour in the due observance of the Sabbath, without denying ourselves, without incurring loss, let us submit to the loss and follow him, that at last we may "be with him where he is;" "for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" In the end it will be evident to all, that in keeping of God's commandments, in keeping of them carefully and exactly, there is great reward.

From the prohibition under consideration, works of necessity and mercy are exempted. We must, however, be careful not to claim this exemption for any work without good ground. We may suffer considerable inconvenience or even serious loss if we do not perform a particular work upon the Sabbath, and still it may not be a work of necessity, it may be our unquestionable duty not to perform it. Suppose a merchant, who wants very much a particular kind of goods, learns on the Sabbath morning that such goods are to be sold that day in his immediate neighbourhood much below their value and will be sold before night, and knows at the same time that he cannot obtain them elsewhere. It is obvious that, if he does not embrace the opportunity of purchasing a supply, he forfeits the great advantage of such a purchase to his business; but who does not see that he ought to forfeit it? and that to make the purchase in question would be a gross and grievous desecration of the Sabbath? Or suppose that the same merchant has had on hand for a considerable time a large amount of goods of a particular description for which he is unable to find a purchaser, and that on a Sabbath day a favourable offer is made for them, which if not accepted then will not be repeated; ought he to accept it, that is, ought he to sell the goods on the Sabbath? Most assuredly not. Though by not selling them, a great loss will be incurred, or which is substantially the same thing, a great advantage will be forfeited, still it is not a work of necessity to sell them.

The nature of the necessity which removes the prohibition of the fourth commandment from a work to which it would otherwise apply, is illustrated by our Lord from the history of David. On the occasion to which our Lord refers, David was an hungered and those that were with him, and at the same time he was placed in such circumstances that he could not procure food by ordinary means. He went, therefore, "into the house of God and did take and eat the shew bread, and gave also to them that were with him; which," as being consecrated, "it was not lawful to eat but for the priests alone." The case was clearly a case of necessity, and, therefore, he was guiltless. It might be difficult to give a description of works of necessity that would be easily understood and applicable in every case; and it is the less necessary to make the attempt, as those who are sincerely desirous to keep the sabbath "according to the commandment" will seldom find it difficult in practice to determine what is and what is not a case of necessity. And, on the other hand, though a work is really a work of necessity, it is not such as viewed and performed by those who are destitute of such a desire. The idea of necessity in this case implies an unwillingness on our part to do anything on the Sabbath that does not fully accord with its sacred character, and it is only when a work, that in our view does not accord with it, is so demanded by circumstances that this unwillingness is overcome, that there is to us a work of necessity; and when the unwillingness in question is overcome, it may be safely concluded that the prohibition of the law is also withdrawn. To speak of a work of necessity where no such unwillingness exists to be overcome, is obviously absurd. We cannot be driven by necessity when we are drawn by choice, nor even in a case in which we are not reluctant.

As regards works of mercy, they may be described generally as in the circumstances of others works of necessity which they cannot perform for themselves. A work of necessity viewing it in reference to individuals, is a work which our own case requires; and a work of mercy is required by the case of our neighbour. It is a work of necessity to him, and as he cannot perform it for himself it becomes to us a work of mercy. We may here observe, that the actions which benevolence demands from us for our neighbour's benefit fall under the prohibition of the fourth commandment in the very same manner as if they were to be performed from personal considerations. We may illustrate this remark by the case of social intercourse. This, as it bears upon ourselves, falls into the second class of actions which we specified, - those actions which are necessary, but not immediately, to the supply of our natural wants; or, in other words, of which our natural wants demand the performance, but not urgently, within a short and limited time. That we have wants to which social intercourse alone affords the suitable supply need not be stated; the love of society, the desire of information, the disposition to sympathy, and similar affections of the mind, create such wants. It is also obvious, that the wants in question are not urgent, that they do not demand an immediate, or, if circumstances do not favour, a speedy supply; they are, therefore, precisely the kind of wants to which the actions of our second class are intended to minister. What we formerly observed, therefore, of those actions - that they are forbidden by the law of the Sabbath so far as they may be dispensed with - holds fully of social intercourse if it does not assume a religious character or is not connected with the performance of works of mercy. The rule, however, which will best secure our compliance with this prohibition, is not, "Suspend your social intercourse on the Sabbath," but "let your social intercourse on the Sabbath be religious." It will easily be perceived, from what has now been remarked, that all visits on the Sabbath, which have no higher object than to secure ordinary social intercourse, fall under the prohibition of the fourth commandment. If ordinary social intercourse itself, so far as it can be avoided, falls under that prohibition, much more do all efforts to procure it.

2. In the remarks on the prohibitory part of the law of the Sabbath which we have now submitted to you, it has been our aim rather to point out the spirit and principle of the prohibition than to furnish the details of its application; but we beseech of you, that you will honestly follow out the principle for yourselves, and not only to deduce from it those details but realize them in your own practice. Place the principle itself distinctly before your minds, that the Sabbath is a consecrated day - a day set apart by the authoritative appointment of God for holy and religious uses, and that no part of it therefore, greater or less, ought to be employed in anything common, in anything not religious, excepting only works of necessity and mercy; place this principle distinctly before your minds, and then apply it to discover, with a view to your own practice, what the fourth commandment forbids; and if you sincerely desire to make that discovery, you will make it with ease adopting this course.

The operation of the prohibition, "in it thou shalt not do any work," creates vacant time for the appropriate work of the Sabbath, and that work consists of the fourth class of actions which we described, religious actions. It is for these that the Sabbath has been consecrated and set apart, and in these, therefore, it must be occupied. And it must be occupied in them with a distinct recognition of its design and with an earnest desire to promote it. Religious exercises are but means to an end, and if we engage in them without any reference to that end we violate alike the dictates of reason and of piety. In the religious services of the Sabbath, therefore, our eye must be fixed upon the design of the Sabbath, and the accomplishment of this must be our great and constant aim. Now, the design of the Sabbath is two-fold: It is intended to afford us time and opportunity, in the first place, to contemplate and admire the perfections of God as they are displayed in creation and providence, particularly in redemption; and, in the second place, to cultivate in ourselves that character by which we shall be qualified to serve and enjoy him. God reveals himself unto us and invites us to behold him, and the Sabbath is given us that we may employ it in practically accepting this invitation. God, at the same time, calls us into communion with himself and offers us his friendship and society; and the Sabbath is given us that we may employ it in following after holiness, without which we cannot fully obey this call and embrace this offer. The Sabbath has been consecrated and set apart for these objects, and, when we are commanded to keep it holy, the meaning is, that we are carefully to preserve to it this character, that we are to devote it to the same end in our employment of it, to which God has devoted it by consecration; that we are to occupy it, to occupy the whole of it so far as the hindrances of our condition will permit, for the same purposes for which he has set it apart. He has made it holy by setting it apart for these purposes, we are to keep it holy by devoting it to them.

Now surely the objects which the due observance of the Sabbath is thus intended to promote, and of which indeed it is nothing else than the practical pursuit, are highly important. If we only reflect we may easily perceive that they embrace every thing in which we are personally concerned. Ought we not then to prosecute them with the utmost rigour and assiduity, to make this the great work of our lives, and indeed so far our only work that every thing else should be made to accommodate itself and become subservient to it? And if its claims and importance are so absorbing and paramount, ought we to deem it too much that one day in every seven is to be wholly devoted to it? Ought we not rather to rejoice in the sanction of a divine institution and in the opportunity it affords us for devoting to it so much of our time continuously and without distraction? If we are at all intent upon this work and duly impressed with its importance and difficulty, such unquestionably will be our feelings. We shall not then be inclined to say that so much time is sufficient for one religious exercise, and so much time for another; and that if we thus measure out to each its own proportion, and go regularly through the usual course of Sabbath services, we do quite enough, and may safely regard whatever part of the day still remains as at our own disposal. On the contrary, we shall consider the whole day and all the time besides we can procure, as short enough for the work we have on hand and are so anxious to accomplish. It is from the consideration of this work, and from a regard to the successful prosecution of it, we shall derive our estimate of the extent to which the Sabbath is to be employed in the exercises and devoted to the objects of religion. If it were so well with our souls that we needed nothing, if our spiritual prosperity were so great that any present efforts to increase it were unnecessary, we should certainly be inclined to spend the whole day in the praises of Him by whose favour we were raised to so happy a condition. And if we have not yet attained this prosperity - if we are still at a very great distance from it (and who of us is not?) - if we cannot even discover a progress towards it when we review our own religious history - is it not, in that case, evident that we need all the time and all the advantage the Sabbath gives to us for prosecuting the works of our salvation; and how unreasonable to say, in such circumstances, that we do not require and will not use the whole of the Sabbath as a day sacred to religion. The person, in the spiritual condition of most of us - nay, in the most prosperous spiritual condition in which any of us is found - who is not disposed to employ in working out his salvation the whole of the time that God has given him for the purpose, has no anxious and enlightened intention to obtain salvation at all. He no doubt wishes to be happy ; but he has no thought of being saved.

In employing the Sabbath with a view to the objects which the institution and the observance of it are designed to promote, we must have recourse to the public and private exercises of religion. We propose an end to ourselves which we seek to accomplish - the end which we have already stated the design of the Sabbath prescribes to us - and the exercises of religion are the means to that end. What these exercises are we shall now, therefore, briefly remind you.

The public services of the sanctuary occupy among them a most important and prominent place. We must, therefore, attend on these services, and attend on them with devout affections and with serious and prayerful application of mind. When God's praises are sung, when his blessing is supplicated, when his Word is read, and when his truth is explained and applied, me must be engaged and exercised in each case as that particular part of the service requires.

Reading the Scriptures, and worshipping God in our families, and imparting religious instruction to the members of our families and households is a most necessary and valuable, though a much neglected, part of the due observance of the Sabbath. The fourth commandment imposes upon heads of families the duty of securing as much as possible that the Sabbath be kept holy by their children and domestics; and there is no way in which they will so easily and effectually perform this duty as by means of the exercises of family religion which I have just specified.

In the due observance of the Sabbath are further included meditation upon divine truth, self-examination, and the devotional exercises of the closet. If we employ the Sabbath in these various duties, in the sanctuary, the family, and the closet, and do so in spirit and in truth, we shall not think the time set apart for them too long or misapplied. We shall not regard this employment of it as either without pleasure or without profit; and instead of desiring to relax and limit the prohibition with which it is guarded, will avoid many things which are not forbidden, because we find them inconvenient as interfering with exercises in which we desire to be engaged.